This Christmas we gave our children a gift that they will be thankful for for years to come. And hopefully they’re future spouses and children will also be thankful for. We gave them the gift of being in the kitchen.

We grabbed an inexpensive scrapbook from Michael’s and placed within it recipes we had recently downloaded from The Fresh 20.

With room left for a photo of their finished masterpiece.

I knew our girls would love this, I just didn’t realize how much. They are climbing over each other to get into the kitchen and learn to cook and serve their family. It is just so beautiful! Our oldest made crepes all by herself the other night and learned the lesson of “the first pancake”. Thankfully we talked her through how the first one is always messy but the rest will be great. And sure enough she got ahold of knowing when the crepe was ready to flip.

This season is so much fun. Watching them turn into these little homemakers. And joyfully. They are anxious to cook, to sew, to create, to serve, etc. I pray this is something we, as parents, take the time to stop and teach our little ones. That we encourage them to serve others. That being a mother is something beautiful and not a burden. How can you encourage the next generation today?

Older women …are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
(Titus 2:3-5 ESV)

Blessings!

Yesterday my daughters and I finally planted our spring bulbs. Something I should have done a month ago but I waited and thankfully there is still time here. Especially as I see our crocuses are coming up prematurely. But why do I always wait too long? Every year procrastinating to the point that I sometimes just leave them in the garage in their little shoebox.

There’s something about planting something dormant that is so…not exciting. Cause then you have to wait. And who wants to wait? And the amount I pay for something that I don’t even know is going to work…well…it’s scary. I want assurance. I want to know that on this date I will have this many color of flowers and they’ll be this high.

Yup, doesn’t work that way. We plant on faith.

We trust that the hard work that we’ve put into purchasing, preparing the soil and burrowing these small bulbs down deep within, that we’ll reap a reward. Maybe the heavenly scent of hyacinth. Maybe the large beauty of Alliums. But we push ourselves outdoors in the chill of autumn to remove the death of summer and to bury our hope. And the wait begins.

As we raise our little ones it can be exhausting. It can be so tiresome that you want to throw in the towel and say “they’ll be fine. I turned out fine. They don’t need me to read them a book right now” or “tuck them in at night” or “they don’t really need to help me make cookies, I’ll get them done quicker by myself.” So we leave them in the shoebox. We’ll tend to them later.

Take the time and tend to the garden God has given you. Prepare their hearts for spring. Give them hope and encouragement. For before we know it they will have blossomed and there will be no going back. This is your moment to weed and nourish. The winter is coming. Put in all the hard work now. And yes, there is that possibility that they won’t turn out ‘the way you had hoped.’ But this is where we trust. We don’t want to come to that time with regrets. Give your all. Wear yourself out loving those little ones. I don’t think any of us will regret missing that one tv show or not spending enough time on Facebook. Love the ones you have, right now, before they blossom. Teach them to love Him. After all, it is He who will be pruning them later.

Blessings!